Update from Lagos

Disruptions to Life and Death

Much of life as we knew it has been disrupted by the corona virus pandemic. So too death!

A funeral in Nigeria is an occasion for elaborate mourning and celebration. There are invitations sent out well ahead, two or three days of receiving visitors after the burial, a “tribute book,” “party favors,” and plentiful food and drink. I’ll explain more about these later!

I’ve told you a little about the early preparations while Chinaku was in the US in the weeks after Clem’s death. First of course was informing the relatives in the right order so no one heard it from someone else when they should have been notified by family. Second, consulting the critical family members on plans.

Third came securing a date when the Bishop of the Diocese and the priest at our local church were available. It also had to work with a time when many relatives would be in the village. So we chose the Thursday before Easter. My daughter Beth and I decided to fly a few days before the April 9 date.

Then with the pandemic threatening flights from the US to Nigeria, we booked our tickets for Friday March 20th. But on Tuesday the 17th we learned that Nigeria was banning US flights from Saturday March 21, the day we would have arrived.

In a mad scramble we got seats on Wednesday evening on Air France, changing in Paris, and arrived on Thursday evening. Immigration required us to fill out full page forms with our flight details and local contact info.

We were in separate lines since Beth comes into Nigeria with her Nigerian passport and I’m in the expatriate line. My temperature was read with the little device held to my forehead. Beth’s was read on a screen, she said. We were told to self-isolate for 14 days, having come from the US and Paris.

On Sunday evening Beth started coughing. Over the next day and a half she developed other symptoms that I’m convinced were Covid-19.

On Tuesday Sam called the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control to report her suspected virus. On Wednesday three people came – one woman who was in charge and two who put on their white ppes and took the samples. Since I had arrived within the 14-day quarantine period, they tested me along with Beth, swabbing nostrils and asking for sputum. They promised results by Friday.

Sam called Saturday but got no answer. Today (Monday) he learned that my results were negative. Beth had one positive and one inconclusive – apparently there are two tests done on the samples. So we still don’t know. I’m concluding she had the virus. It will make a better story in the future!

Three Nigerian state governors have tested positive. The country has announced 111 cases, but I’m sure there are many more!

Nigeria’s Response to Pandemic

Meanwhile Clem’s body arrived the same day we did and was put in a mortuary in Lagos. We’ve been planning when to travel to the east for the April 9th event.

But in the last two days, Nigeria has taken drastic steps. Lagos is now in lock-down. Several of the 38 states have banned travel through their borders; one is Delta State, directly on the main road from here to the east. Given the rapidly escalating travel restrictions, we’re considering sending the body as soon as possible.

Will we even be able to go for the burial?

Westport and Funerals

Just as I’m wondering what we’ll do here, I read Dan Woog’s blog post.

He describes families in Westport who are unable to hold funerals! A veteran who should have had a full military funeral died last week. “His burial at Willowbrook Cemetery was limited to 8 people. Pallbearers wore N95 masks,” Dan said.

And then there was an article in The New York Times a few days ago. As in Nigeria, funerals in Ireland are major social events. But in the time of the pandemic, the large gathering to mourn and celebrate was not possible.

Read the article to see what the people of the town did – it brought tears to my eyes!

Peace Corps Evacuation

All Peace Corps volunteers were evacuated from their posts around the world in the last couple of weeks. They often had little notice and little time to bid farewell to colleagues, students and friends.

It is unclear from what I’ve read whether any will go back to their posts or simply be terminated now. Like the rest of us, they will have to make the best of the these disruptions to life.

Please share what you are experiencing and how you are coping.